Asian stocks down after US Fed decision
The US central bank has decided to leave interest rates unchanged.
The US central bank has decided to leave interest rates unchanged.
Asian stocks were mostly down today (September 21st) after the US Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates unchanged.
It said the decision was based on low inflation, weakness in the global economy and unsettled financial markets. Investors took this as a sign that the global economy is struggling.
"It's going to be a really tough week because we have the combination of [uncertainty] over what the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Fed wants. It seems that the Fed has moved the goalpost and that upset US markets on Friday," Adrian Mowat, MD and chief Asian and emerging market equity strategist at JP Morgan, told CNBC.
"We are [seeing] people closing out risk positions so you see the U.S. dollar weakening, [as well as] the yen and euro beginning to appreciate," he added.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7 per cent to 21,756.93 while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.9 per cent to 3,156.54. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 was down two per cent to 5,066.20 and Seoul's Kospi fell 1.6 per cent to 1,964.68. Tokyo was closed for a holiday.